Sugar-Free Cream Cheese Candy Recipes for Low-Sugar Desserts

This is a lighter take on the classic cream cheese candies often served at weddings and special occasions. These are sugar-free and colored naturally with beetroot juice, making them an ideal guilt-free treat for Valentine’s Day or any celebration.

Serve them as delicate pink confections, or dip them in dark chocolate for a superb mint-and-chocolate combination.

Sugar-Free Cream Cheese Candies

1 oz = 30 g natural, unsweetened full-fat cream cheese

1–2 drops pure peppermint oil

1/2 teaspoon beetroot juice (for natural pink color)

1–1 1/2 cups = 240 ml–360 ml (+ 1/4 cup = 60 ml for dipping) powdered erythritol product (powdered erythritol or confectioners-style erythritol)

(Optional: dark chocolate for coating)

Directions

Combine the cream cheese, peppermint oil and beetroot juice in a small bowl.
Stir with a spoon until well combined.
Sift the powdered sweetener to remove any lumps.
Add the sweetener 1/4 cup (60 ml) at a time, mixing well after each addition.
When the mixture becomes too stiff to stir, knead in the remaining sweetener, adding it gradually and kneading thoroughly after each addition.
Continue adding sweetener until the dough reaches a Play-Doh–like consistency: moldable, not sticky, and not crumbly.
Pinch off tiny pieces and roll into small balls. Place them on parchment or waxed paper.
Flatten the balls with a fork dipped in powdered sweetener, press them into molds (after rolling in powdered sweetener), or roll out the dough and cut shapes with a small cookie cutter.
Freeze the candies for a couple of hours to firm them up.

Nutrition information	Protein	Fat	Net carbs	kcal
In total:	1.1 g	9.0 g	1.4 g	114 kcal
Per candy if 12 candies:	0.1 g	0.8 g	0.1 g	9 kcal
Per candy if 24 candies:	trace	0.4 g	0.1 g	5 kcal
Per candy if 36 candies:	trace	0.3 g	trace	3 kcal
Per candy if 48 candies:	trace	0.2 g	trace	2 kcal

(Not coated with chocolate.)

Nutrition information	Protein	Fat	Net carbs	kcal
In total:	8.4 g	55.3 g	17.5 g	624 kcal
Per candy if 12 candies:	0.7 g	4.6 g	1.5 g	52 kcal
Per candy if 24 candies:	0.3 g	2.3 g	0.7 g	26 kcal
Per candy if 36 candies:	0.2 g	1.5 g	0.5 g	17 kcal
Per candy if 48 candies:	0.2 g	1.2 g	0.4 g	13 kcal

(Includes 3 oz = 85 g dark chocolate with 86% cocoa solids for coating.)

Tips for making the candies

These candies stay slightly soft and mealy; they rarely become fully hard unless left to dry for several days at room temperature. Chocolate-coated candies remain moist inside because the chocolate seals them.

Use a powdered sweetener that dissolves completely for the best texture. Powdered erythritol in a confectioner’s style gives a smoother result than straight granulated erythritol, which can feel gritty in uncooked desserts.

If you don’t have beetroot juice, use cooked and pureed beetroot or another richly colored fruit or vegetable juice. Pomegranate juice or other intensely colored natural juices should work as well.

The cream cheese mainly acts as a binding agent, so the finished candies won’t taste strongly of cream cheese. If peppermint isn’t your favorite, swap in another flavoring, but remember that erythritol and xylitol produce a cooling aftertaste, which peppermint helps balance.

Adding liquid flavorings or colorings requires more powdered sweetener to reach the correct dough consistency. If you need a larger yield, multiply the ingredients; just be mindful that sweeteners can be costly, and these candies are intensely flavored, so smaller sizes are ideal.

It takes practice to achieve the right dough consistency. For special occasions, consider making a couple of test batches first. The simplest shaping method is rolling tiny balls and flattening them with a fork or fingertips. Pressing into molds works well if you first roll the pieces in powdered sweetener to prevent sticking. Rolling and cutting shapes with a cookie cutter is the most time-consuming method but produces very neat results.

Combine cream cheese, peppermint oil and beetroot juice in a bowl, stir until smooth, then add sifted sweetener a little at a time until the mixture becomes a moldable dough.

Roll tiny balls, dip them in powdered sweetener if using molds, press into molds or flatten with a fork, then freeze for a few hours. For chocolate coating, dip frozen candies in melted dark chocolate so the coating sets quickly and neatly.

After coating, store chocolate-covered candies at room temperature or in the fridge if you prefer a firmer bite.

Experiment notes and personal experience

I experimented with small batches to avoid wasting expensive sweeteners. My successful test used 1 oz (30 g) cream cheese, 1–2 drops peppermint oil and a small amount of beetroot juice, mixed with powdered erythritol added gradually. Kneading by hand after the mixture became too stiff to stir produced a soft, Play-Doh–like dough that shaped easily and released cleanly from molds after freezing.

Early trials with insufficient sweetener produced a dough that was too soft to unmold. Rolling pieces in powdered sweetener before pressing them into molds and ensuring the right dough firmness solved that problem.

I found the combination of peppermint and dark chocolate especially satisfying — the chocolate balances the strong peppermint and hides any small cracks if the candies get slightly dry.

Variations

Try different flavors in place of peppermint, keeping in mind stronger flavors may demand more sweetener to preserve the dough’s consistency. You can leave the candies white or color them naturally for other holidays: for example, use spirulina or chlorella for green St. Patrick’s Day candies.